Sunburns, chemo, and hike planning.

Colorado was so much fun with friends. The tops of the mountains were snow covered, so we opted out of going to 14,000 feet. Our rental was at around 9700 feet elevation so we hiked down about 700 feet elevation through the town of Breckenridge, then back up to around 10K on the side of the mountain, and back down to the cabin. It was still hard because there was some snow and some wet (slippery) spots but I think we all had fun. 

Because my chemo makes my skin photosensitive (which is an immune reaction to the sun and sensitivity to sunburn), I made sure I was heavily sunblocked, wore long sleeves, and a hat. Even with that protection, I managed to get burned on the back of my hands and my lips. I look like I've had some very liberal collagen injections. I read online that peppermint oil is a great pain killer and soother for sunburn, so I have been putting it on my lips since I got back to Lubbock. The oil is definitely helping with the intense pain, as I woke up this morning with none. I did still have puffy lips, but a scabby shell had developed and that makes me think this is stage 1 of healing. I'm continuing to use the peppermint oil and things are slowly looking and feeling more normal. The first thing I did this morning was to order stronger sunblock, specifically for the face and mouth, so that I can avoid this happening again. Just another lesson and another adjustment. One more stage of Livin' La Vida Glioma. 

I'm still internally celebrating the results of last week's mri showing that the chemo is working. As I was calling to order more chemo this morning, I was reflecting on the fact that the pharmaceutical company is giving me the drugs for free. Usually when a person gets something for free or at a discount, there is an assumption that it's sub-par merchandise. Therefore, as a marketing academic, I feel like I need to make a shoutout to Genetech Pharmaceuticals for this wonderful program. Hopefully my results will help get this drug combination FDA approved for GBM so that insurance companies will get their crap together and start covering it. Until they do, I will be making plans with Rachel et al., to hike our 14-er in August or September.